Nathan Winograd, leader of the national no-kill movement, answered these questions via e-mail; Lisa Pedersen, a Boulder shelter manager who formerly led the Metro Denver Shelter Alliance, responded. The following are a few key excerpts.

JD: Do you or your organization foster creation of local no-kill groups around the country? Did you have a hand in setting up the Colorado group?

Winograd: No, but we encourage (such groups). Shelter killing is the leading cause of death for healthy dogs and cats in the United States … with shelters blaming a lack of available homes as the cause of death. And yet, statistics reveal that there are over seven times as many people looking to bring an animal into their home every year as there are animals being killed in shelters because they lack one.

“…When animal lovers question the excuses used to justify this killing, shelters and their national allies respond, “We are all on the same side, we all want the same thing,” “We are all animal lovers” and insist that criticism of shelters and staff is unfair and callous because “No one wants to kill.’ The facts, however, tragically and frequently tell a very different story. How can you fix a problem you refuse to admit exists?… (Shelters) don’t … So animal activists have to do it for them.

Pedersen: “The Metro Denver Shelter Alliance and our members have been working on these issues for over two decades. With the collaborative efforts aimed at addressing the challenges and animal issues in our communities we have created comprehensive programs which have increased the numbers of animals we can save every year. … The Live Release Rate for MDSA shelters has increased from 72 percent in 2005 to 85 percent in 2012. These statistics demonstrate the success animal welfare organizations in our area are achieving each and every day.

Q: Is the no-kill movement growing? Do you have concrete evidence of that?

Winograd: Yes. Seven out of 10 people believe it should be illegal to kill animals in shelters if those animals are not suffering. No Kill is now on the agenda of shelters nationwide. It is being debated in legislatures across the country. And in 2012, more than one new community per week achieved save rates of 90 percent and as high as 99 percent.

Q: You have been quoted as saying there is no pet overpopulation problem. If that is an accurate quote, please explain what you mean. And why would shelter managers disagree with you?

Winograd: The reasons we have historically been given for why animals are being killed in shelters — there are too many for too few homes available, and that the American public is uncaring and irresponsible — have been proven wrong in the face of data and ommunities that are achieving No Kill level save rates not by changing the habits of the people within a community, but by changing the culture, policies and procedures of the shelter itself. In other words, we know pet overpopulation is a myth because both the statistics and the experience of progressive shelters prove it is.

Some eight million animals enter shelters every year and while apologists for shelter killing will tell you that we cannot adopt our way out of eight million animals, the truth is that we can. That is good news. But the even better news is that adopting out eight million animals isn’t what we have to do. The actual number of animals needing homes is much less. Some animals entering shelters need adoption, but others do not.

Some animals, like free-living, unsocialized (“feral”) cats, need neuter and release. Others will be — and many more can be with greater effort — reclaimed by their families. Others are irremediably suffering or hopelessly ill. And many more can be kept out of the shelter through a comprehensive pet retention effort. While about four million dogs and cats will be killed in pounds and shelters this year, roughly three million will be killed for lack of a new home. Can we find homes for three million animals? Yes.

Pedersen: The national figures in contrast to what we are achieving in the Denver Metro area again drives home the successful outcomes of our programs and services. By achieving our current 85 percent live-release rate, we have demonstrated how collaboration and public education and involvement works. MDSA (Metro Denver Shelter Alliance) is committed to continuing this progress.

Q: Given the apparent entrenched positions of the sides, do you see any hope of the sides working together? How?

Winograd: Yes. Our battle to save the lives of shelter animals is not against a callous public indifferent to the plight of animals as we have been told for the past 50 years. Our battle is within. We do not need to win the hearts and minds of the American people because we already have them. … And the more Americans hinge their donations on an organization’s sincerity, integrity and performance rather than its superficial label, the sooner our nation’s large, animal protection groups will be forced— by sheer necessity — to start building, rather than blocking, the road to a brighter future for America’s animals.

Q: I have heard some no-kill advocates say that “warehousing” is not a legitimate issue, nor are animals going “kennel crazy.” What is your view on that?

Winograd: No Kill is about valuing animals, which means not only saving their lives but also giving them good quality care. It means vaccination on intake, nutritious food, daily socialization and exercise, fresh clean water, medical care, and a system that finds loving, new homes.

By denigrating the movement to end shelter killing as akin to warehousing and abuse, and by ignoring the protocols of shelters which have truly achieved No Kill, these naysayers embrace a nation of shelters grounded in killing — a defeatist mentality, inherently unethical and antithetical to animal welfare. To imply that No Kill means warehousing, therefore, is a cynicism which has only one purpose: to defend those who fail to save lives from public criticism and public accountability by painting a picture of the alternative as even darker.

Pedersen: We are committed to the mental and physical health of every animal sheltered by our facilities. When the measurement of success comes from the live-release rate alone, the unintended consequence of this can be long lengths of stays for dogs and cats because a group may not want to euthanize an animal and instead makes the choice to continue housing the animal in a kennel. This can be months and even years of living in a shelter, which means other animals could be turned away.

This extended length of stay is scientifically linked to stress, illness and behavioral and mental deterioration.

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